Harnesses of the aforedescribed type are widely used for the lifting and lowering of individuals in dangerous situations and as rescue equipment, for operations, which require an individual to be suspended from an elevated point for work at a location below that point, or generally as a suspension harness which facilitates an activity of the individual. The harness can also be used, of course, in parachute applications, in mountain climbing and in numerous other applications in which total suspension support of the entire body must be ensured when the harness is engaged by a catch or the like.
Such harnesses can comprise adjustable shoulder straps which can be guided through a plate formed on a rear part of the harness and referred to hereinafter as a rear plate, the shoulder straps then reaching forwardly to be activated with a seat strap upon which the hindquarters of the supported person can rest, the legs of the supported individual passing through adjustable leg loops formed by leg straps connected to the seat strap.
Such harness constructions have been designed in various configurations and the basic elements of such harness can be found in the German Industrial Standard DIN 7478. At the front part of the harness, the shoulder straps are held by a chest strap or strut and are connected rearwardly in the region of the rear plate, which is provided with a suspension eye engageable with a hook or the like, the shoulder straps being joined to form the back piece of the harness. The seat strap with the leg loops can be connected to the chest strap.
The chest strap can have further, usually laterally arranged, eyes which can be used to suspend a further flexible member from the harness or to suspend the harness from a flexible member.
It is customary to connect the straps to the chest strap. This, however, causes problems when the harness is not set to the size of the individual for which it is intended. If there is poor adjustment to the size of the individual, the harness is not only uncomfortable but can produce shocks on the body which are concentrated in certain shoulder regions or seat regions and are not uniformly distributed so that they are particularly discomforting and even dangerous.
Earlier harnesses of the type described required several adjustments of the load-carrying or shock transferring portions of the harness to be certain that the same was adjusted to the particular individual.